Reversible roller door-guide.



' J. T. BRADY. REVERSIBLE ROLLER DOOR GUIDE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 3. H6.

Patented June 13, 1916.

James TB NVENTOR WITNESSES JAMES THOMAS BRADY, OF MISSOURI VALLEY, IOWA.

REVERSIBLE BYOLLER' DOOR-GUIDE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1916.

Application filed February 3, 1915. Serial No. 5,941.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES T. BRADY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Missouri Valley, in the county of Harrison and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Reversible Roller Door-Guide, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a reversible roller door guide.

The object of the present invention is to provide a reversible roller dooi guide of simple, practical, and inexpensive construction, designed for use on sliding freight car doors and analogous closures and adapted to be either substituted for the top hangers and bottom guides of a door of this character or used in connection with top hangers, and capable of enabling car doors to slide freely without binding against either the upper or lower rails. 7

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction and novel combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction, within the scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the invention.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is an elevation of a reversible roller door guide constructed in accordance with this invention and shown applied to the top of a sliding door. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional, view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end elevation showing the reversible roller door guide applied to the bottom of a door. Fig. 4: is a perspective view of the device detached.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawing.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is illustrated. the preferred embodiment of the invention, '1 designates the body portion of a reversible roller door guide adapted, as illustrated in Fig. l of the drawing, to be appliedto the top of a sliding car door 2 and capable also of being secured to the same at the lower edge thereof, as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing. In practice the reversible roller guide is designed to be substituted for the top hangers and the bottom slides of an ordinary sliding freight car door, and the best results are obtained by using a pair of the door guides at both the top and bottom of the door. This will enable the door to slide freely along the upper and lower fixed rails 25 and 4: without liability of binding, as any tendency of the door to bind or stick will be counteracted by the rollers 5 of the guides. Good results may also be obtained by using a pair of the door guides at the bottom of the door in connection with the top hangers, as the weight of the door will then be supported by the rollers of the guides, and a free sliding movement of the door will be obtained. The roller guide consists of a bracket or body, preferably in the form of a casting, and comprising inner long and outer short walls or guides 6 and 7 spaced apart to receive the roller 5 and connected by an integral transverse portion 8. The inner and outer walls extend beyond the outer peripheral edge of the roller 5, and the inner wall, which is of greater length than the outer wall, is provided at its outer edge with a laterally projecting lip 9, which extends partially across the intervening space between the inner and outer walls. The laterally projeoting lip, which is arranged in the vertical plane of the roller 5, is spaced from the outer edge of the outer wall a suflicient distance to accommodate the coacting rails along which the roller is adapted to run. The lip 9 presents a flat inner face or abutting portion 10 to the coacting rail and is rounded at 11 adjacent to the said face 10 to provide a recess beneath the abutting portion.

The short guide 7 bears against the outer face of the fixed rail 3, as shown in Fig. 2, while the long guide6is provided with the abutting portion 9 to engage the rear side of the rail 3 at a point spaced outwardly from the roller 5, a greater distance than the length of the short guide 7. Vith this arrangement, and the provision of the recess 11 beneath the abutting portion 9 of the long guide, when the casting or body portion 1 is swung outwardly from beneath the rail 3, the body swings about the end of the short guide 7 as a fulcrum, while the abutting portion 9 moves away from the rear face of the fixed rail and swings down about the lower edge thereof. The recess 11 receives thereinthe lower edge of the rail 3, as the body is swung from beneath the rail, thus preventing binding of the rail between the inner and outer guides.

' The roller 5 is mounted on a transverse ranged in flush relation with the exterior,

faces of inner and outer walls. The bracket or body of the door guide is provided With an attaching plate or portion 16, arranged substantially in the vertical plane of the outer side 6 and secured by bolts 17 or other suitable fastening devices to the door 2. The bracket or body is reinforced at the angle formed'by the attaching plate 16 and the transverse portion 8 by a rib or enlargement 18. This materially strengthens the bracket or body at a 'point'where breakage is most liable to occur, and there will be no liability of the reinforced body accidentally becoming broken at this point by the strains to which the device is subjected when in use. The reversible roller guide is adapted for use in connection With various kinds of rails, straight or Z-shaped in cross section, or other form, and the coacting rollers will prevent the door from tipping and bindin and the trouble ordinarily arising from car doors equipped with top hangers and bot tom guides will be entirely eliminated.

What is claimed is 7 1. A door hanger comprising a body portion for securement toa door, a roller mounted in the outer end of the body portion, a short guide extending outwardly from the body portion at one side of the roller for engagement against one side of a fixed rail adjacent the inner edge thereof,

and a long guide extending outwardly from the body portion at the opposite side of the roller and being turned inwardly at its extremityin spaced relation to the roller to provide a recess in the guide adjacent the roller, and an abutting portionon its outer end for engagement with the opposite side of the rail at a point spaced from the roller, the body portion being adapted to be swung laterally from the rail about the short guide as a fulcrum, the inner edge of therail engaging 1n said recess to admit the free swinging of the longitudinal guide about the lnner edge of the rall.

2. A door hanger comprising a castlng adapted for securement to the longitudinal edge of a door and having a longitudinal recess through its outer end, and a roller j'ournaled in the recess in the casting for engagement with a fixed rail, said casting having inner andouter guides projecting beyond the roller for contact with the respective inner and outer faces of the rail, the guide on theinside engaging the fixed rail at a point farther removed from the roller than the point'of engagement of the guide on the outside whereby the hanger may be released from said fixed rail upon the swinging outwardly of the door, and Whereby said guides prevent the lateral swinging ofthe door when the latter is'swung into normal position.

'In testimony, that I claim-the foregoing as m oWn I have hereto aflixed m si na- L.

ture in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT 'HUTTON, M. T. WEs'roN.

Gople: of 1:111! patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner or I'ateuts. Washington, D. G.

a v JAMES THOMAS BRADY}. Witnesses: Y 

